This week’s FASTRACK is no fun for anyone impacted by it. It’s a tough one with alternate service providing circuitous options that could involve significant walking or transfers. From 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. each night this week, there will be no train service underneath Central Park West. Here we go:
There will be no A train service between 59th Street-Columbus Circle and 168th Street and no D service between 59th Street-Columbus Circle and 161st Street-Yankee Stadium. B and C trains will end early each night. Alternate routes include the 1, 2 and 4 trains, free shuttle buses in northern Manhattan or a special Bx19 bus. The 42nd St. Shuttle will operate all night to provide a connection for stranded riders.
Despite these challenges, the MTA says this FASTRACK, the first to impact the Central Park West stations, has “been designed around the careful determination that there is adequate alternate means of transportation, including enhanced services along some bus lines during work periods.” Here are their alternate ideas:
A trains will operate in two sections:
- Between Inwood 207th Street and 168th Street
- Between 59th Street-Columbus Circle and Lefferts Blvd/Far Rockaway
D trains will operate in two sections:
- Between 205th Street and 161st Street-Yankee Stadium
- Between 59th Street-Columbus Circle and Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue
Customers may take:
- 1 trains for service between Midtown and Washington Heights
- 2 and 4 trains for service between Midtown and the Bronx
- Nearby 1 and 2 stations along Broadway as alternatives to closed stations along Central Park West
The special Bx19 buses will operate between the A and D’s 145th Street/St. Nicholas Avenue stop and the 1 train’s 145th Street/Broadway every 15-20 minutes. Free shuttle buses will operate between Broadway at 168th Street and Broadway at 110th Street, traveling along Broadway, 155th Street, the Harlem River Drive, 135th Street, St. Nicholas Avenue, Frederick Douglass Boulevard and 110th Street back to Broadway.
The next FASTRACK comes in October, and it will shutter the BMT Broadway line.
18 comments
That is one ugly shuttle bus map. Why aren’t they running a special M10 all night, similar to the limited M101 for the Lexington Avenue line last week?
I was just about to ask the same thing about the M10 bus. It doesnt normally run basically between ~2 and ~5am
well i think i know why…
the m10 bus would not be able to handle the traffic unless they added a whole bunch of them – and people would be much more likely to use the bus if it was there than the 1/2
The M101 limited doesn’t run overnight either, but that didn’t stop Transit from using it last week. The presence of a second subway line three blocks away clearly makes the difference here (and the M10 doesn’t normally have a limited run). They could theoretically run the shuttle bus along the M10 line in place of the one they are using.
Good thing that the Yankees are on the road, otherwise 161st Street station would have it’s Alstate moment.
They wouldn’t do this it the Yanks were home. They chose this week for it intentionally.
Oh I know, just making humor.
Good timing on this fastrack…Anyone else get those NotifyNYC alerts last week that mentioned signal malfunctions on CPW that shut down the line from 59th to 125th? Hopefully this fastrack will address this problem since that was quite a painful shutdown during the workweek.
If the MTA isn’t already planning to do it, should also run the 2 local north of Times Square earlier in the evening, to coincide with the start of the CPW Fastrack, since that would allow direct access to the train for Concourse passengers at 59th Street once the D begins turning there.
The map does indicate the 2 is running local during this time.
What surprises me is that there’s no connection between the west side and the D at 161st. So if you’re coming from the west side anywhere north of Times Square, you’re gonna have to transfer twice to get back to the D.
Seems like that convoluted shuttle bus could have added a stop at Yankee Stadium for very little pain.
Aside from the northern terminal, all of the D stations are close to 4 stations, so there’s really only one transfer necessary.
What’s the point of the shuttle bus? If 72/81/86/96/103 riders are expected to walk to/from Broadway, why can’t 110/116/125/135/145 riders walk to/from Lenox? The distances are similar – if anything, Lenox is a bit closer (the map distortion is misleading).
I could understand a 155/155/163/168 shuttle bus, but this bus doesn’t even serve 163!
I’m also curious how the bus is getting between the two 155’s – it isn’t as straightforward as it looks on the map.
That is one circuitous bus route, but it allows people to get between Harlem and Washington Heights as well as the Bronx. I think it has to use the Harlem River Dr to achieve the elevation change between 8 Av and St Nick at 155th. If this were a weekend, the route would definitely get divided up into more logical segments.
Good point. Since they are using the Harlem River Drive, and there is a south entrance and north exit by the D 155th, the bus must be making a loop to the elevated 155th via 153rd and Adam Clayton Powell. (This should not have taken me 10+ minutes to figure out.)
Actually, there is no 153rd street there, so make that 150th street. Good luck with any double-parked cars!
10p-5a, subtract time to get it place, set up, then break down, clean up and clear out by 5a is less than 6 hours per night useable time. It’s about a day total.
Better to schedule a total shutdown for one weekend per year, early in the summer before it gets brutally hot (it’ll be less hot without the trains running). That would be over 48 hours of useable time, and more actual work would get done. The way Fasttrack is timed, we pay for at least 8 hour shifts but get at best 6 hours work per shift. The short downtime also means even more waiting/watching as the job is overstaffed to get it done in the short time.
Weekend ridership is too high. These shutdowns are done on weeknights because that’s the only time nearby trains and buses can handle the load with a minimum of extra service. Weekend shuttle buses would get very expensive very quickly.
” … handle the load with a minimum of extra service.”
If only there were extra service. Last night’s trip in from Queens took me more than twice its outbound length – an hour and forty minutes – and by the time I caught an uptown 1 train at 59th St. – roughly 12:45 AM – it was packed well beyond morning rush-hour totals. It seemed as if 2 or more A Trains were trying to squeeze into a single 1.
When FASTRACK shuts down an A train north of 59th Street, they should at least double the number of 1 trains to take up the load.